Many drivers utilize portable or in-dash navigation devices that provide directions and traffic flow information. Drivers use such devices to look for any current traffic problems and sometimes for advice on how to avoid congestion.
However, the road coverage of publicly available traffic flow information is severely limited, and only relatively few companies provide commercially viable traffic flow information. Fixed road sensors are expensive to deploy and maintain, and therefore are not a cost-effective solution for expanding the road coverage of available traffic flow information to other areas.
The notion of using moving fleet vehicles as “probe sensors” to collect traffic information has been explored, but today this type of information is proprietary and still far too limited in volume to accurately generate traffic flow information. For one, fleet vehicles alone do not present enough data points to accurately generate and represent traffic conditions. Further, fleet vehicles do not necessarily match the driving patterns of consumer vehicles.